LADY STIRLING 1725-1804

    LADY STIRLING was born Sarah Livingston at Livingston Manor within the environs of the proud, solid, impressive Dutch families of the New York Colony. Her parents were Philip Livingston and Catrina Van Brugh. Robert Livingston had established Livingston Manor in the 1600’s on a 160,000-acre tract below Albany and East of the Hudson.

    Sarah belonged to the elite Livingston family who practiced the work ethic and shouldered responsibility for the common welfare. In 1748 at the age of 23 she married William Alexander, son of an eminent attorney. The Alexanders also contributed greatly to the Cause of Freedom, especially in defense of popular rights. They were associates of Benjamin Franklin & the Penns.

    In September 1756, William Alexander sailed to England to prove his claim to the Earldom of Stirling which carried long-held rights to Nova Scotia, Long Island, and St. Croix (all of Maine east of the Kennebec). He was recognized as the nearest male heir in 1759. Discouraged over the delay in acceptance of his valid claims, he returned to New Jersey where he had large holdings. He served gallantly in the Revolutionary War. Lord Stirling ardently embraced the cause of liberty, and practically donated his immense fortune, estimated at 100,00 pounds, to the Cause of Liberty. He became a personal friend of General Washington. That calm judge of mankind placed the utmost confidence in Lord Stirling’s ability and integrity. During the early years of the war, while he was on Long Island, to the front at the battle of Trenton, proving the hero at bloody Brandywine and bloody Monmouth, and capturing honor after honor by his brave conduct, Stirling House manor house on the hills of Basking Ridge was still a center of sociability.

    After Washington vacated the Wallace House for the Ford Mansion at Morristown, in 1779, General Greene removed his wife and staff from the Van der Vere house to Basking Ridge, and established his head-quarters at Stirling Manor. This elegant household, whose management up to the time of Lady Kitty’s wedding, was conducted with some of its old-time elegance.

    Lord Stirling served gallantly in the Revolutionary War, dying in 1783 as Commander of The North. He had sacrificed his peerage for The American Cause.

    In 1789 Lord and Lady Stirling’s daughter, Lady Kitty, was presented by George Washington as she awaited her future husband, Colonel William Duer of New York. When Lord Stirling died after the War, their lands/Stirling Manor, and furnishings were sold for debt, which had accumulated during The War. Sadly, after the death of her husband, Lady Kitty died a pauper in a New York Boarding House.

    The Barcalow Family is an ancestral line of Beatrice McWilliams of Fall Brook, CA, who donated the above picture for our use. Mrs. McWilliams was born Beatrice Barcaklow and is a cousin of Lady Stirling Chapter Member Miriam Peterson (deceased).

    The historic name for the Lord Stirling Manor Complex in Somerset County, New Jersey is “The Building”. It was located on 700 acres of land that Lord Stirling (William Alexander) received from his father, James. A small portion is now maintained as Lord Stirling Park and is on the National Register for Historic Sites in New Jersey.

The home was reminiscent of an English nobleman’s and one of the finest in New Jersey. Construction began in 1761. “The Building” contained stables, slave quarter, coach house, and other buildings all ornamented with cupolas and gilded vanes. The front opened into a fine lawn descending to the Black River (the Passaic). The most skilled gardeners in American designed the immense park with its enclosure for deer, a rose garden, and Italian vineyard.

    Here, Lord and Lady Stirling entertained prominent New World citizenry. She was esteemed in her own right as the sister of Governor Livingston of New Jersey. During the War their home was a hub for planning war strategy and served as headquarters for Lord Stirling, the Commander of the North, and his staff.  

   After Lord Stirling died in 1783 in Albany, New York, the Barkalows, another family of Lady Stirling’s same Dutch heritage, acquired the property. The original mansion was destroyed by fire in 1825. The Barkalows built a home on part of the foundation shortly thereafter. It, too, was destroyed by fire in 1919.

    All that remains of the original Stirling home is the foundation of the mansion, cisterns, and some slave quarters. The slave quarters had walls 2 feet thick, gable roofs with slate shingles, and interiors of wood paneling. The only visual interpretation rumored to be extant of Lord and Lady Stirling’s home, aside from sketch, is a sampler stitched by a 14-yr.old schoolgirl.

    William Alexander (Lord Stirling), that American Patriot, was one of the first to espouse the cause of Liberty. He commanded a brigade of volunteers from Virginia, Delaware, and Pennsylvania. Because he had been Surveyor General of New Jersey and knew every road, General Washington often turned to him for advice. They spent that terrible winter of 1777-1778 together at Valley Forge. Martha Washington and Sarah Livingston (Lady Stirling) often visited their husband during this time.

    The home was built on a tract of 584 acres started in 1761. It was designed to emulate the residence of an English nobleman with stables and coach-houses, ornamented with cupolas and gilded vanes. The front opened onto a fine lawn facing the “Black River”. One of the drawing rooms had painted walls and a stucco ceiling furnished with elegant furniture and carpets imported from England.

    The ancient Stirling Castle was erected by Romans and the Picts may have had a fort here. In 1314 Robert eh Bruce won the Battlefield of Bannockburn, thus regaining Scottish possession of the Castle and his homeland. It soon after became a royal residence.

    Both James II and James V of the Stuart Line were born there. James V, father of Mary Queen of Scots, rebuilt Stirling Castle into one of the most splendid buildings of its kind in Scotland. On 9 September 1543 young Mary Queen of Scots was crowned in the Chapel Royal at Stirling. In 1923, King George V restored the castle to the Earl of Mar.